Complexities of the professionalisation process and ethics of community development in South Africa
Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
This thesis examined the professionalisation process complexities and ethics of community development in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to examine the current move to professionalise the community development sector to explain professionalisation process complexities, the tensions, challenges, and the values of community development in South Africa. The quest for professionalisation calls for the standardisation of knowledge, certifications, the establishment of occupational membership associations, and a system of self-regulation for community development practitioners and community workers into a formalised profession and be committed to serving the public interest. The professionalisation process of the community development sector was explicitly acknowledged in the White Paper on Social Welfare in 1997. In October 2011, the national Department of Social Development (DSD) organised a three-day Inaugural Summit held at
the Vulindlela Village in Coega, Eastern Cape, which paved the way for the professionalisation process, and consulted stakeholders within the community development sector to plan the professionalisation process in this field. This summit was the first step undertaken towards the professionalisation process. The national DSD was mandated to lead, oversee and coordinate the professionalisation of community development. The Steering Committee, the South African Council of Social Service Profession (SACSSP), and the Task Team to professionalise community development in the planning and implementation process.
The study adopted multiple case study designs to explore and explain how the community development practitioners, social workers, and community development workers view the professionalisation process complexities and the values of community development. This case study research took place in Gauteng at the local, provincial, and national levels of government. The four cases underpinning the study include the practitioners from non-governmental organisations (NGO), community development workers (CDWs) from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the provincial and national Department of Social Development (DSD), and the higher education institutions (HEI). The case study analysis focused first on each case separately (within-case analysis), including the connection of each case to the phenomenon underpinning the study.
Understanding each case (within-case analysis) was essential to understanding the case context. By adopting multiple case study research designs, contributions to existing research on community development and the professionalisation process are made. The research questions underpinning the phenomenon under study are answered by accumulating findings from all four cases (cross-case analysis findings). Interviews and secondary data analysis were used to collect data. The interviews are the primary data source, and documentary analysis was used to corroborate the findings of the interviews. Non-probability purposive sampling and theoretical sampling were employed in this study. The empirics consist of seventy-four interviews with community development workers, social workers, and community development practitioners. The data analysis process followed the constructivist grounded theory constant comparison iterative and coding process, including two cycles of initial and focused coding. The theoretical codes developed in the study represent the foundation of the theory developed. Given the plethora of research in this field of study, the constructivist grounded theory data analysis process was applicable in generating the nascent theory that suits the nature of this inquiry.
This study found that the professionalisation process was motivated by the need for status recognition and that the process is evolving as state regulation. Professionalisation process complexities are connected to the complex context of the history of the multidisciplinary nature of community development practice, lack of engagement and broader consultative processes, the qualification versus the occupational wider set of professionalisation processes, a crisis of status recognition, professional identity issues, the unclear scope of practice, and a lack of regulatory framework. Against this backdrop, challenges, tensions, turf issues, and contestations are identified. Including the ethical issues of conflict of interest, professional misconduct, and malpractice are raised as the major challenge of the evolving profession of community development practice. A substantive theory developed in this study is inductively theorised from data and contributes to existing research on community development professional practice. Based on the study findings, recommendations for policy and practice and further research are suggested
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy,Johannesburg 2021
Keywords
Community development, Collaboration and partnership, Ethical issues, Multidisciplinary nature, Professionalisation, Process complexities, Professionalism, UCTD
Citation
Ditlhake, Kefilwe Johanna. (2021). Complexities of the professionalisation process and ethics of community development in South Africa [PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40932